kotik

Hello,

I posted my issue in general thread, but I am not getting much feedback. Its a 2015 Z51 7 speed

So this happened two weeks ago: After being parked in my driveway for about two weeks, I started the car and pulled it out of my driveway (30 feet). I shut off the car. Later in the day I went to put the car back in my driveway, but it wouldn't go into gear. Clutch pedal felt fine, but it probably wasn't actually engaging the clutch. I tried starting the car in gear, but it didn't work (it did go into gear when the car was off). I had the car towed to the dealer, and after 2 weeks of being there they told me my car is ready for pick up. I came to pick up the car, and wasn't given clear explanation of what was wrong (i'm in Germany, the head manager there doesn't speak good English). Essentially they told me "you drive the car too hard, the clutch was stuck together (almost like baked together), so we took it out, spread it apart and put it back in". ok, this sounds super fishy to me! First of all, I don't drag race the car, nor do I do hard launches or burn outs. The only thing I do is drive the car fast on the autobahn (I cruise at about 150mph). last time I have driven the car (two weeks prior to it breaking down) I drove it calmly around town (not in rain or anything). And even then, I drove the car that morning out of my driveway, how could it bake together?!

I asked them if the clutch was fine, or if there are any issues, they said the clutch looked fine, drive around and see if this happens again! WTF!!!! What if i'm driving fast around a turn and need to shift, and it locks me out of gear. What if i'm on a road trip and it breaks down in the middle of nowhere (i'm planning a trip to Monaco to a supercar meet in April).

Please advise. What could be wrong? What could have caused this? What legal grounds do I have to fight this (if it's necessary)? Is there a GM advice line I can call and speak to someone? I'm in Germany, this GM dealer is about an hour away, the other close ones are much much further away.

p.s. car is US spec, i'm in the military and am stationed here in Germany.

bob guzzy

I have heard of clutch plates sticking to flywheels, it was due to excess moisture, what happened was the flywheel rusted sticking the clutch plate to the flywheel it was many years ago on much simpler cars.

Have you encountered water deep enough to get into the bell housing?

Has it rained enough to soak the car when the car was standing for those 2 weeks?

The only other thing I can think of is, if you are a person who drives with one foot resting on the clutch pedal, you could have slipped the clutch at high autobahn speeds.

kotik

No, i dont rest my foot on the clutch while driving (been driving manuals all my life).

I havent driven it through puddles or any water prior. It was however parked in my driveway for two weeks and it did snow and rain during that time.

But maybe id understand rusting into it (which to me sounds crazy), it would be a problem when i was pulling it out of the driveway, no? That same morning i put it in 1st gear, drove it out on to the street and parked it in neutral.

bob guzzy

You have a real mystery there I have never heard of anything like it maybe that is one for the record books.

I have heard of sticking to the flywheel, and clutch discs falling apart, but never baked to the flywheel.

Perhaps something got on the clutch disc at the assembly plant that caused it to stick.

I hope it works fine for you in the future. good luck.